


The “Faust” motive in Star Wars

by lunatic_jellybear



Series: Looking for Rings - Meta and other thoughts on George Lucas' Star Wars Hexalogy [2]
Category: Faust - Eine deutsche Volkssage (Movie 1926), Faust - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Meta, Movie Comparison, Movie Interpretation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28214790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunatic_jellybear/pseuds/lunatic_jellybear
Summary: A piece of Star Wars Meta.The text is looking at the usage of tropes and ideas from the classic "Faust"-Tragedy in Lucas' Star Wars movies.The comparison conducted draws from J.W. Goethe's 1808 theater play "Faust - Eine Tragödie, Erster Teil" ("Faust - A Tragedy, Part One") and F.W. Murnau's 1926 silent movie "Faust - Eine deutsche Volkssage" ("Faust - A German Folktale").A special focus is put on the practice of scene quotation which George Lucas uses extensively and from a wide range of sources throughout his cinematic works.
Relationships: Heinrich Faust/Gretchen (Faust - Goethe), Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Series: Looking for Rings - Meta and other thoughts on George Lucas' Star Wars Hexalogy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2066853
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	The “Faust” motive in Star Wars

**Author's Note:**

> Update:  
> I added a quote from Geoge Lucas on the topic which I found in my brand new copy of "The STAR WARS Archives Ep. I-III". It's the first official acknowledgement of the Faust motive I'm aware of.

> Anakin's made a pact with the Devil: "I want the power to save somebody from death. I want to be able to stop them from going to the river Styx, and I need to go to a god for that, but the gods won't do it, so I'm going to go down to Hades and get the dark lord to allow me to have this power that will allow me to save the person I want to hang on to."
> 
> Ultimately, it's about power. He's traded his soul for power, it's _Faust_. The more power he wants, the more power he gets, the more he loses.
> 
> **George Lucas**

Lucas never made a secret out of the fact that Palpatine is the Star Wars equivalent to the devil or that Anakin is “the man who made a pact with the devil”.

This is an old trope, used in countless pieces of pop culture and one of it’s most famous incarnations is the legend of Dr. Faust. As a matter of fact, the connections between Star Wars and the story of Faust go way beyond just the relationship of these two characters. They are present in key moments of story and character development as well as the conflicts of the grand finals of Ep.3 and Ep.6. Its core character triangle of Mephisto-Faust-Gretchen can be found both in the PT and the OT.

The similarities are pretty glaring to anyone familiar with Goethe’s two part play “Faust - Eine Tragödie” (Faust - A Tragedy) and that applies to most people who attended a German high school. Actually, Goethe’s work is so ubiquitous in German culture that many people are annoyed with it and try to ignore the constant references everywhere. (Goethe is like a German Shakespeare in terms of cultural importance.) Because I didn’t want to bore anyone, I only intended to include it in this series for completion's sake and some key points on character relationships. But when I started to look for English speaking references on the matter, it dawned on me that Goethe’s work is barely present in the English speaking media sphere. References to “Faust” in English speaking cultures usually point to Christopher Marlow’s much older play which does not include many of the elements that Goethe’s Faust and Star Wars share. (Most importantly the character of Gretchen is missing in Marlow’s work.)

Which brings up an interesting question:  
Where did George Lucas come across this theme and story?

He is not known for taking his inspiration from two hundred years old theater plays, let alone ones not written in English. Rather his inspiration famously came from 60s TV serials, old silent films and movies from the Hollywood golden age. And so, I wondered if there might have been an early “Faust” movie that fits the bill.

As it turned out, there was.

In 1926 Friedrich W. Murnau made the silent movie “Faust – eine deutsche Volkssage” (Faust - a German folk tale). This is the same Friedrich Murnau who made the legendary “Nosferatu” which means it is almost guaranteed that George Lucas is familiar with his work.  
Fortunately, the movie can be seen in full on [youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha3k_ltsWV4). It is a beautiful work of art well worth a watch. Every frame just looks like an old oil painting in sepia colors. To top it all off, Murnau made a couple of his own changes to the Faust story which happen to have even more overlap with Lucas’ movies than Goethe’s version.

#### Comparing the “Fausts”

I’ll give a short run down and a brief comparison of the three stories (Geothe’s Faust, Murnau’s Faust and Lucas’ Prequel Trilogy) to show where Star Wars picks tropes and story bits up from the two older works. The relationship between the OT and Faust has to be discussed separately since this trilogy also uses Faust tropes but arranges them in a new way.

Ultimately all three narratives tell the story of a man who makes a pact with the devil, someone who commits himself to the abuse of power for his personal gain. They all try to answer the question of why he would do that and what consequences his choice has for himself and the people around him. Murnau’s movie opens with the following statement on the significance of Free Will. A concept that is also immensely important to Star Wars in general and to Anakin’s character specifically.

Goethe and Murnau start the events off with a bet between God and the devil, who goes by the name of Mephisto in both stories, for the soul of Faust. This is obviously not present in Star Wars, even through the duality of the warring powers of good and evil very much is.

#### The Pact

Mephisto starts to seek out Faust. Whereas in Geothe’s play Faust demands knowledge (understanding beyond human limits) and absolute satisfaction all by himself, Murnau tells us how Mephisto brings the plague to Faust’s home town, killing the people around him, to make him beg for the power to save their lives. The similarities to Star Wars start there already. Where Maphisto brings the plague, Palpatine engineers a war to spread death and destruction. Where Faust wants to cure the sick, Anakin wants to heal Padmé from the wounds caused by giving birth.

Both versions of “Faust” then go on to show how Faust and Mephisto close a contract written in blood to seal their pact. This famous trope is completely absent in Star Wars, but Murnau added a change to the traditional pact making by splitting it into two parts. The contract scene covers a pact for only one day. It is followed later in the film by a second pact binding scene in which Faust falls to his knees and submits himself fully to Mephisto in order to keep his dark powers for good. This scene looks rather familiar to anyone who has seen Ep.3. and it is absolutely possible that it served as an inspiration for Lucas to find the symbolic imagery for Anakin pledging himself to the dark side.

#### The Queen

Whereas Geothe’s “Faust” includes numerous sub-plots about a wide range of topics only one of which is the love story with Gretchen, Murnau centers his movie completely on the theme of love. Again, Murnau adds an element not present in Goethe’s work which is then quoted in Star Wars: the Italian queen.

In the silent movie Mephisto manages to distract Faust from his attempts to save people by showing him the image of a beautiful Italian queen. Over his desire for her Faust throws all caution to the wind and entangles himself with Mephisto fully. But after a short intense affair he becomes despondent again and returns home where he finally meets the innocent Gretchen. With her he experiences true love for the first time. The ensuing love story is almost identical in both “Faust” versions.  
Anakin on the other hand loves only one woman throughout his life but this woman happens to have two identities: Queen Amidala & Padmé Naberrie. Lucas merged Murnau’s two characters into one.

The visual similarities between the Italian queen, who is abducted by Faust on her wedding day, and Padmé in her wedding dress are striking. Additionally Naboo in general and Varykino specifically quote Italian landscapes and architecture extensively. The scenes in Padmé’s villa were even shot in Italy (Villa del Balbaniello at Lake Como).

#### The Meadow or Why do the Prequels tell a medieval love story?

Much moaning and complaining has been done about the love story of the Prequels.  
I have to say, I always liked how different it was. This story just stubbornly refused to follow the conventions of modern day romance, but it obviously had its own logic. I simply didn’t know its rules.

One of these odd little eccentricities was the choice to have Anakin and Padmé fall in love while playing around in a meadow (instead of a beach or in front of a sunset or anything conventional like that).  
This scene started to make more sense to me when I learned that Lucas used the medieval romance tradition of “Courtly Love” to tell the story of Anakin and Padmé.

A scene of two lovers meeting in nature wouldn’t look out of place in a movie about Robin Hood or Tristan and Iseult or a film taking place in Camelot. As a matter of fact, it will fit any kind of fairy-tale just fine. Considering that the story of Faust is ultimately based on a medieval folk tale it might not be surprising that both Goethe and Murnau have their couple fall in love in a meadow-like garden.  
Which leads to another scene in Murnau’s movie that very possibly inspired Lucas.

The motive of the impossible love between a Queen and a Knight (most famously found in “Tristan and Isolde” and the Legend of King Arthur with Queen Guinivere and Knight Lancelot) is alluded to by Murnau in his movie by including the character of the Italian queen and the garden-meadow-scene in which Mephisto lies to Gretchen's family that Faust is a rich knight.

Just like “Faust” all epic medieval love stories are tragedies. The lovers are separated by the insurmountable obstacles of class and fate. The demands society and God make of them inevitably trump their all too fragile personal desires. The character’s struggle against these all powerful forces then leads only to pain and destruction.  
Which is, of course, exactly the story Lucas tells us in the Prequels. The tropes and traditions of “Courtly Love” are perfectly suited for them. It just seems to me that we have forgotten how to watch tragedies.

#### Gretchen's "crime"

As the love story takes its course the tragedy begins to unfold. In the two “Faust” stories the lovers spend a night together after which Faust gets involved in a duel with Gretchen’s brother (who is killed) and is whisked away to “safety” by Mephisto. Gretchen is left behind and has to bear the brunt of people’s scorn alone. In Goethe’s play she then has an illegitimate child and her ostracization from society is alluded to. In a growing state of mental instability she kills the child and is sentenced to death for this murder.

Murnau modernizes this by making the responsibility of the townsfolk for the child’s death more explicit. He shows the people’s cruelty directly and has the child being born in winter. It freezes to death because Gretchen gets no shelter from anyone in town. She is still sentenced to death for her “crime”, of course.

Lucas keeps the motive of the forbidden love but switches the aim of society’s ire. It’s not the woman who faces censure and ostracization for having this secret relationship, it’s the man. Anakin would lose his place in the Jedi order, if his attachment came to light. (There are some subtle hints that Padmé is not supposed to have a family while serving in public office, presumably to prevent conflicting loyalties between her constituents and her family, but this is never of much relevance to the drama that unfolds.) And most importantly, the birth of the children is not considered a sin. On the contrary the twins are the only flicker of hope still shining by the time the credits roll on Ep.3.

#### The Temptation of Gretchen

The culmination of the story is the only part where Lucas stays closer to Geothe’s play than to Murnau’s movie. It’s impossible to tell if Lucas made himself familiar with Geothe’s writing after seeing Murnau’s film or if the similarities were born out of the stronger structural resemblance of Star Wars and Goethe’s “Faust”. The latter is possible because both, Star Wars and Goethe’s “Faust”, are split in two main parts. In both works the chronological first part includes the love story between Faust/Anakin and Gretchen/Padmé, but Gretchen/Padmé needed to be gone in the second part. (Faust would go on to debate the meaning of life with the devil and Lucas needed to to fit his Prequels to his original trilogy in which Padmé was known to be dead.)

Murnau, meanwhile, made only one movie on the topic and gave it a very clear ending. His last scene shows Faust crawling to Gretchen onto the already burning stake to repent for his sins. Both die and their souls are saved by an angel.

Things go a little differently with Goethe.  
His last scene takes place in the dungeon the night before Gretchen’s execution. Mephisto smuggles Faust inside, where Faust then offers Gretchen to join him and Mephisto to save her life. Gretchen, who sees the world more clearly in her insanity, recognizes Mephisto as the devil and refuses Faust. In her desperation she turns to God, asking for forgiveness and an angel grants her that after her death. Faust leaves, still bound to Mephisto.

This is one of the core scenes of the classic Faust story and its essence is strongly present during Padmé’s and Anakin’s argument on Mustafar. There Anakin asks Padmé to join him. She recognizes his plans as evil and consequently refuses to go along with it, but tries to separate him from the dark influence he is under by offering to leave together. Anakin, unable to let go of the dark side, hurts her when Obi-Wan appears and leaves her behind to give in to his rage. After the fight he is taken away by Palpatine/the devil.

#### Why did Padmé die?

The fact that the pregnancy and the children are in and of themselves not a “crime” in the Star Wars Universe, opens the question of what exactly caused all those devastating consequences to rain down on Padmé.

For Anakin, too, it is not quite clear what crime the force punishes with the loss of his limbs. He is obviously already a child- and mass-murderer by the time he arrives on Mustafar, but if Lucas would have only wanted to make a point about how far he fell in an attempt to save Padmé’s life, the scene of their meeting on Mustafar would not have been necessary at all. That point was already made loud and clear.  
On the other hand the crime against the force and life writ large which Anakin set out to commit (overruling death and taking total control of Padmé’s physical life) is never followed through. The “only” thing he does is overruling her will and agency, by choking her when she tries to say something he can not bear to hear. There are so many things going on in these few scenes that the identification of cause and effect in terms of narrative reward & punishment becomes almost impossible.

I do have a theory about this, through.

We hear in the scene of Padmé giving birth to the twins shortly before she dies that she apparently lost her will to live. This always bugged me, because it doesn’t quite fit with the stubborn woman shown in the Prequels up to this point who would just never give up regardless of the odds.

But what if her will had been broken by force? By Anakin to be precise, consciously or unconsciously, when he wanted nothing more than her to agree with him.  
By deciding to take control of her body and life without so much as saying a word about it to her, he was already wrestling her agency and free will away from her. But since the motive of free will, and by extension the ability of the characters to choose between good and evil every day anew, is such a fundamental concept of Lucas’ Star Wars movies, it would make sense that the people in the Star Wars Universe can not live without their free will. That would mean that breaking the will of a person leads to their death.

In Lucas’ movies there is only one explained technique to influence the mind of another being with the force: the mind trick. With this skill a suggestion is planted in the victim’s mind which they can give into, in this case their will follows the will of the influencer, or they can resist.  
Lucas movies never show anyone who imposes their will onto somebody else with this technique by brute mental force. That makes sense. If taking someone’s will away does kill them, it would defeat the purpose of such an order, since a dead person would not be able to follow it. And it would explain why we never even once see a Sith try to control another person’s will.

This explanation is consistent with everything we see in Lucas movies but it’s unfortunately not verifiable, because there is just too little material on the matter given in the films to find proof for it. Therefore, it remains a theory.

#### The Temptation of Gretchen/Luke in the original Star Wars Trilogy

Variations of “Temptation of Gretchen”-scene also appear two times in the original trilogy in Luke’s two confrontations with the Sith in Ep.5 and Ep.6. Given the typical dynamics in the Faustian character triangle, it is apparent that the “role” of Gretchen is given to Luke in the original trilogy.

The facts that he is a) a male protagonist and b) Vader’s/Faust’s son instead of a love interest change things, obviously.  
For one, as a protagonist he is granted way more agency in the story than a traditional love interest and secondly, since the love story is not applicable, all that remains of the Faust motive is the core scene of “The Temptation of Gretchen”. Without the set up to the scene provided by the love story, Lucas has to build up to it in a different way. He smoothly creates his own new vision of the story and incorporates the set-up-necessities in Ep.5.

The devil gets a visual introduction through a glimpse of the Emperor and then a first, reduced version of the Temptation-scene brings in a number of important story pieces.  
By revealing that Vader is Luke’s father and by showing that Vader wants him alive, Lucas establishes the basis for their dysfunctional family-relationship. Furthermore, Vader’s offer to Luke to join him is not only Luke’s first temptation to the dark side, it also works as an introduction of the concept of “the pact with the devil”. This is then further cemented when Vader admits his own quasi-enslavement to his master which he can’t escape on his own.

By the end of Ep.6 all the chess pieces are in place and we see the final variation of the Faust motive in Lucas’ Star Wars.  
This time it’s not a tragedy at all.

In the throne room of the second death star another pact is offered to Luke, by the devil himself, nonetheless. The Emperor’s question had twisted and changed. Would he, Luke/Gretchen, be willing to step into the position of Vader to become Faust himself?

Again, Luke refuses the pact with the devil just like Gretchen did, but he makes it clear that doesn’t mean he also refuses his father. On the contrary, he wants his father out of the devil’s pact. Padmé had tried to make the same distinction but it took Anakin 23 years to be able to understand that.  
Given a second chance, Anakin acts differently. At no point does Vader try to overrule Luke’s will. In the beginning he is convinced the Emperor will do the will breaking. In the middle he resigns himself to die by his son’s hand, so that Luke may live. In the end he chooses to rise up against the devil to protect his son. (He had long since stopped attacking Luke and he never went for his throat.) Anakin does here what Faust only does in Murnau’s movie in the end, he takes responsibility for his crimes, lets go of the devil-granted powers and faces the consequences for his actions in death.

By giving a pretty straight forward reinterpretation of the Faust-Gretchen love story in the Prequels, the Faust motive becomes more clear in the original trilogy as well. Even if the audience doesn’t know the Faust myth at all, these scenes allow the audience to look behind Vader’s mask to see Anakin’s motivations and his long, painful development throughout the six movies.  
The two sides of the story ping off each other. Lucas mirrored the Faust motive in Ep.3 and Ep.6 and through this he was able to close another one of the many, many narrative rings within the ring composition of the Star Wars Hexalogy.

What I like the most about this, through, is that the real hero here is Gretchen.  
For once at least, it’s the loved ones, Padmé and Luke, who save the day.

**Author's Note:**

> Direct sources:
> 
> George Lucas: "STAR WARS: Episode II – Attack of the Clones", movie, 2002  
> George Lucas: "STAR WARS: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith", movie, 2005  
> Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: "Faust - Der Tragödie erster Teil", theater play, 1808  
> Friedrich W. Murnau: "Faust - Eine deutsche Volkssage", silent movie, 1926  
> Paul Duncan: "The STAR WARS Archives EPISODES I-III 1999-2005", Köln, 2020 (book)
> 
> Indirect sources:
> 
> Mike Klimo: "RING THEORY: The Hidden Artistry of the Star Wars Prequels.", essay on www.starwarsringtheory.com, 2014  
> Rick Worly: "How to Watch Star Wars, Part One: The Prequels Are Better Movies Than You Deserve", video essay on www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqnjzVX8EKA, 2019


End file.
